The Chuckle Brothers couldn't have made a better comedy of all things North Upper this afternoon.
An absolute calamity.
Really poorly dealt with. Allowed to walk up the stairs with my old dad in darkness on the way in but they decide at the start of the second half that it was too dangerous and that it was safer to move a stand during the game!?
Perhaps the Club should consider replacing the emergency lights with ones that can last long enough for a game of football plus extra time.
A decent bulkhead light with a minimum of six hours battery back up life cost no more than £150 fitted. Can't be more than 50 or so in the North Stand.
Appalling support from the North Stand today , i thought the drummer had emigrated to Oz , i think he emigrated to the West stand! ;-0
I assume that this is a joke ? Hundreds outside the North couldn't gain access because of a power failure which is why the kick off was delayed. Apparently although we used to have one we no longer have a back up generator. Unbelievable I know but that is from a very reliable source.
Got stuck outside at 2.50 , got told referee would only delay kick off to 3.15 and then call it off if we weren't ready to go. That's why they tried to get everyone in the west.We got in upper west, I weren't pleased to see loads in upper north so I climbed over into NW quadrant and some good chap helped pass the boys over to me. Cue loads of people following suit. Then at half time we had the evacuation fiasco but the M block massive stayed firm.
I'm not going to get too involved in this as the club has made a statement and one thing I have learned over the years is that people sitting in the stand are in no position to second guess the emergency services or the safety officer. No doubt what happened will be thoroughly reviewed.
However, what is obvious is that years of cost cutting and under-investment in the stadium - for perfectly understandable reasons - is taking its toll.
We had a walk-up of 2300 - about 500 more than usual - home fans today and we struggled to cope with it. Had the game kicked off on time there would have been hundreds still queuing to buy tickets.
I was with my brother, sister and dad in L block. We got told to move to the West stand, but we just moved to J block. In terms of crowd atmosphere, I thought it was great fun! "We're Charlton Athletic, we sit where we like", "F*** off, you might as well f*** off", "We can see you sneaking out" - all classics. More entertaining than the football in the first half, anyway.
It looks & sounds to me as (yet again) a small minority of fans in the Upper North got their way - even though both the OB & Stewards were trying to do their job and move them.......not because they were causing trouble but because of a potential health & safety issue.
What gives people the right to decide that they are above the law & health & safety. The club must know who these "fans" are & if I had my way I would ban them forthwith.
Just good job nothing serious happened & the game postponed.
Moving people on mass ( in the dark) with stewards and police who didn't have a clue what was going on , just before the second half was a preposterous decision and I'm glad people stayed in their seats otherwise we could have been making headlines for the wrong reasons this afternoon.
It looks & sounds to me as (yet again) a small minority of fans in the Upper North got their way - even though both the OB & Stewards were trying to do their job and move them.......not because they were causing trouble but because of a potential health & safety issue.
What gives people the right to decide that they are above the law & health & safety. The club must know who these "fans" are & if I had my way I would ban them forthwith.
Just good job nothing serious happened & the game postponed.
I think it would have been a result if the game had been abandoned, was not too impressed today....but of course we won which was the main thing
It looks & sounds to me as (yet again) a small minority of fans in the Upper North got their way - even though both the OB & Stewards were trying to do their job and move them.......not because they were causing trouble but because of a potential health & safety issue.
What gives people the right to decide that they are above the law & health & safety. The club must know who these "fans" are & if I had my way I would ban them forthwith.
Just good job nothing serious happened & the game postponed.
I think it would have been a result if the game had been abandoned, was not too impressed today....but of course we won which was the main thing
You really are getting so boring ... Change the recod mate
It looks & sounds to me as (yet again) a small minority of fans in the Upper North got their way - even though both the OB & Stewards were trying to do their job and move them.......not because they were causing trouble but because of a potential health & safety issue.
What gives people the right to decide that they are above the law & health & safety. The club must know who these "fans" are & if I had my way I would ban them forthwith.
Just good job nothing serious happened & the game postponed.
Oh for fucks sake get a life, the health & safety problem was a lack of lighting on the stairways, would it have been prudent to get the fans running down the stairs at the start of the second half & possibly causing problems or leaving it to the end of the game where people would have walked slowly down the stairs when exiting the ground ?
What gives idiots the right to come on this forum & talk bollocks ?
"Unfortunately, when people came into the ground, they migrated into the upper north, so we ended up with more people in there."The match started 15 minutes late as planned, and during the first half, as daylight deteriorated, officials were forced to deal with a new problem regarding any evacuation of home supporters. To quote t part of the statement by the club. Frankly, I am surprissed that the match was not abandoned, the club were put in a terrible position too dissapoint fans , and be accussed of health and safety killjoys, or as they seemed to do try and manage the situation as best they could. Having missed several games due to Saturday league football management I would have winged like hell if the game had been called off, but as the airman stated fan's cannot call the shots, I really do not envy John Little this afternoon, a very difficult judgement to make. Quiet why the fire, and stair lights as well as PA is not on a seperate emergency circuit I have no idea, I would be surprissed if this is not demanded by the HSE and an independent safety review carried out to safeguard the supporters and the club. Why there was no announcement on the big screen, or by Dave Lockwood perhaps needs to be reviewed? I for one could not hear the PA announcement in regard to the power cut, but I did notice that the West stand did not have the same lighting as the opposite stand, hence my earlier post.Thank god this incident passed without serious injury.
& I thought we lived in a democracy & allowed free speech ??
Twice in the last year I have been party to events where people have decided that rules do not apply to them.
Last year at a play I attended the tickets plainly said that children under 5 we not allowed in - but 2 or 3 "parents" decided to take todlers in pushchairs.........On another occaison at the start of a performance it was clearly stated that mobile phone/camereas where not allowed - only to find that 5 minutes into the play a man 2 rows from the front was holding up a camera phone and taking a vidoe of the performance.
some people seem to think that they are above rules & regulations
I can understand why the club done the way they did but why decide to evacuate the fans when it was about to kick off in the 2nd half? We missed about 10 mins trying to get out and find an empty seat.
We got in the ground about 2:20 and we did notice it was dark but I thought the club could have done the evacuation before kick off and we would of watched the whole game.
Comments
Really poorly dealt with. Allowed to walk up the stairs with my old dad in darkness on the way in but they decide at the start of the second half that it was too dangerous and that it was safer to move a stand during the game!?
Perhaps the Club should consider replacing the emergency lights with ones that can last long enough for a game of football plus extra time.
A decent bulkhead light with a minimum of six hours battery back up life cost no more than £150 fitted. Can't be more than 50 or so in the North Stand.
I assume that this is a joke ? Hundreds outside the North couldn't gain access because of a power failure which is why the kick off was delayed. Apparently although we used to have one we no longer have a back up generator. Unbelievable I know but that is from a very reliable source.
However, what is obvious is that years of cost cutting and under-investment in the stadium - for perfectly understandable reasons - is taking its toll.
We had a walk-up of 2300 - about 500 more than usual - home fans today and we struggled to cope with it. Had the game kicked off on time there would have been hundreds still queuing to buy tickets.
In terms of crowd atmosphere, I thought it was great fun! "We're Charlton Athletic, we sit where we like", "F*** off, you might as well f*** off", "We can see you sneaking out" - all classics. More entertaining than the football in the first half, anyway.
It looks & sounds to me as (yet again) a small minority of fans in the Upper North got their way - even though both the OB & Stewards were trying to do their job and move them.......not because they were causing trouble but because of a potential health & safety issue.
What gives people the right to decide that they are above the law & health & safety. The club must know who these "fans" are & if I had my way I would ban them forthwith.
Just good job nothing serious happened & the game postponed.
You really are getting so boring ... Change the recod mate
Oh for fucks sake get a life, the health & safety problem was a lack of lighting on the stairways, would it have been prudent to get the fans running down the stairs at the start of the second half & possibly causing problems or leaving it to the end of the game where people would have walked slowly down the stairs when exiting the ground ?
What gives idiots the right to come on this forum & talk bollocks ?
Frankly, I am surprissed that the match was not abandoned, the club were put in a terrible position too dissapoint fans , and be accussed of health and safety killjoys, or as they seemed to do try and manage the situation as best they could. Having missed several games due to Saturday league football management I would have winged like hell if the game had been called off, but as the airman stated fan's cannot call the shots, I really do not envy John Little this afternoon, a very difficult judgement to make. Quiet why the fire, and stair lights as well as PA is not on a seperate emergency circuit I have no idea, I would be surprissed if this is not demanded by the HSE and an independent safety review carried out to safeguard the supporters and the club. Why there was no announcement on the big screen, or by Dave Lockwood perhaps needs to be reviewed? I for one could not hear the PA announcement in regard to the power cut, but I did notice that the West stand did not have the same lighting as the opposite stand, hence my earlier post.Thank god this incident passed without serious injury.
& I thought we lived in a democracy & allowed free speech ??
Twice in the last year I have been party to events where people have decided that rules do not apply to them.
Last year at a play I attended the tickets plainly said that children under 5 we not allowed in - but 2 or 3 "parents" decided to take todlers in pushchairs.........On another occaison at the start of a performance it was clearly stated that mobile phone/camereas where not allowed - only to find that 5 minutes into the play a man 2 rows from the front was holding up a camera phone and taking a vidoe of the performance.
some people seem to think that they are above rules & regulations
what happened at Odsell ?
I remember it well. Just Never heard it referred to as Odsell . You learn something new everyday.
We got in the ground about 2:20 and we did notice it was dark but I thought the club could have done the evacuation before kick off and we would of watched the whole game.
But the fire was at Valley Parade not Odsal ( as it stated in that article) which is why I questioned Golfaddicks original post.